Partly in revenge for Holland's attack on a small British town which, according to my logbook, is why Holland and Britain are at war; and partly to verify that the attack starts with you standing properly on land and not stuck under a pier; I attacked Oranjestad, Aruba. Good news, the bug has indeed been fixed and the attack proceeded as intended. The governor was very generous with his donation to my - er, His Majesty's - coffers. 
I got lucky. Normally when I try to loot the store for free gold, the game crashes, which is why I always save game just before going into the store. This time it didn't crash, though when I went to load up the second ship, a lot of garbage text appeared over the cargo icons. Past experience is that this does not cause any real trouble so I ignored it. The next piece of luck came when I went to loot personal items. Usually there's nothing except pistol ammo in stock. (On at least one occasion the store has shown empty pockets when I'm trying to loot it, then showed plenty of stuff in stock the next day when he could charge money for it again.) This time there was lots of stuff, including many weapons almost all at Fine quality, which in turn included enough swept-hilt rapiers and grapeshot pistols to equip a small army. But the nice thing about Oranjestad is that it has two stores, so when I left the Arawak trader in the port area I had enough swept-hilt rapiers and grapeshot pistols to equip a large army. And enough enhanced compasses and chronometers to equip any officer who is likely to be put in charge of a prize ship, plus lots of all the other skill items.
I've found a new way to get rid of a cursed albatross. There's a limit to how many different items you can carry. Load yourself up to that limit; you'll know you've reached it because you can't pick up anything else. Give one item to an officer. Pick up something else. Hand the albatross to your officer and take back the item you gave him/her. The bird tries to fly back into your pocket, can't because your pocket is full, and disappears. Now put anything you don't want to carry with you into the ship's locker, ready for next time.
I got lucky. Normally when I try to loot the store for free gold, the game crashes, which is why I always save game just before going into the store. This time it didn't crash, though when I went to load up the second ship, a lot of garbage text appeared over the cargo icons. Past experience is that this does not cause any real trouble so I ignored it. The next piece of luck came when I went to loot personal items. Usually there's nothing except pistol ammo in stock. (On at least one occasion the store has shown empty pockets when I'm trying to loot it, then showed plenty of stuff in stock the next day when he could charge money for it again.) This time there was lots of stuff, including many weapons almost all at Fine quality, which in turn included enough swept-hilt rapiers and grapeshot pistols to equip a small army. But the nice thing about Oranjestad is that it has two stores, so when I left the Arawak trader in the port area I had enough swept-hilt rapiers and grapeshot pistols to equip a large army. And enough enhanced compasses and chronometers to equip any officer who is likely to be put in charge of a prize ship, plus lots of all the other skill items.
I've found a new way to get rid of a cursed albatross. There's a limit to how many different items you can carry. Load yourself up to that limit; you'll know you've reached it because you can't pick up anything else. Give one item to an officer. Pick up something else. Hand the albatross to your officer and take back the item you gave him/her. The bird tries to fly back into your pocket, can't because your pocket is full, and disappears. Now put anything you don't want to carry with you into the ship's locker, ready for next time.
